Publications
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Learning about online graffiti from bathroom graffiti
Today's practice: When you find an online comment or contribution that truly annoys you, put it on your desktop or bulletin board. It's your own personal classroom for learning about difference, and practicing tolerance. When companies, organizations or individuals...
Let your team choose project software for your online collaboration
If you’re a project software or online collaboration geek, you want your team to use your tools. Here’s how to make their tools work for you.
What is an ebook? 6 questions about the future of books
Tonight Emily Carr students presented 5 ebook prototypes developed over the course of this semester in an ebook design course. As the students presented their work, and members of the local business, tech and creative communities responded to them, it was clear that...
Is online activism effective? 5 ways to ask (and answer) the question
Can social media catalyze or support political change? To answer that question, you have to understand who is asking, and what they really want to know. And it's the fundamental question we addressed today in a panel on social media and political activism at Meshwest...
The 6 great tech religions, and how to resist them
It's Friday night again: time for good Jews to light their sabbath candles, or in our family's religious tradition, to feel vaguely guilty for not even thinking of it. We lead highly secular lives, not because we're techno-centric geeks, but in spite of it. For all...
3 options for sharing an iTunes account under iCloud with your husband, wife or sweetie
If you had asked me on Friday whether I was in a committed relationship, I'd have said yes. I've been married to the same man for over 11 years, and we've been together for 14. Together we have two children, a business, a house, and multiple bank accounts. Not to...
9 ways the Internet can cheer your mood when you’re feeling sad
A rough day: we all have them. Yet no day is so rough that it should shake your faith in the Internet as, if not a universal cure, than a widely applicable balm. Here are 5 ways the Internet can cheer you up when you're blue: Create something. Upload a picture. Edit...
3 reasons to make TV social & connected with the new Plex & myPlex
I want you to think really carefully about how happy you are right now, because as soon as I describe the killer features of the latest iteration of the Plex media center software, you're going to be plunged into deep despair. Despair over the fact that you don't have...
Learning from social media failure at Qantas and beyond
My latest post for Harvard Business tackles the lessons other companies can learn from the latest social media disaster, this time brought to you by Qantas Airways: [A]irlines are far from the only businesses to face a newly redrawn balance-of-power between company...
Social Media Fail, Airline Style
The capacity to operate a 747 is incompatible with social media smarts. That’s the conclusion one might draw from the…
The Harvard Business Review
Learning about online graffiti from bathroom graffiti
Today's practice: When you find an online comment or contribution that truly annoys you, put it on your desktop or bulletin board. It's your own personal classroom for learning about difference, and practicing tolerance. When companies, organizations or individuals...
Let your team choose project software for your online collaboration
If you’re a project software or online collaboration geek, you want your team to use your tools. Here’s how to make their tools work for you.
What is an ebook? 6 questions about the future of books
Tonight Emily Carr students presented 5 ebook prototypes developed over the course of this semester in an ebook design course. As the students presented their work, and members of the local business, tech and creative communities responded to them, it was clear that...
Is online activism effective? 5 ways to ask (and answer) the question
Can social media catalyze or support political change? To answer that question, you have to understand who is asking, and what they really want to know. And it's the fundamental question we addressed today in a panel on social media and political activism at Meshwest...
The 6 great tech religions, and how to resist them
It's Friday night again: time for good Jews to light their sabbath candles, or in our family's religious tradition, to feel vaguely guilty for not even thinking of it. We lead highly secular lives, not because we're techno-centric geeks, but in spite of it. For all...
3 options for sharing an iTunes account under iCloud with your husband, wife or sweetie
If you had asked me on Friday whether I was in a committed relationship, I'd have said yes. I've been married to the same man for over 11 years, and we've been together for 14. Together we have two children, a business, a house, and multiple bank accounts. Not to...
9 ways the Internet can cheer your mood when you’re feeling sad
A rough day: we all have them. Yet no day is so rough that it should shake your faith in the Internet as, if not a universal cure, than a widely applicable balm. Here are 5 ways the Internet can cheer you up when you're blue: Create something. Upload a picture. Edit...
3 reasons to make TV social & connected with the new Plex & myPlex
I want you to think really carefully about how happy you are right now, because as soon as I describe the killer features of the latest iteration of the Plex media center software, you're going to be plunged into deep despair. Despair over the fact that you don't have...
Learning from social media failure at Qantas and beyond
My latest post for Harvard Business tackles the lessons other companies can learn from the latest social media disaster, this time brought to you by Qantas Airways: [A]irlines are far from the only businesses to face a newly redrawn balance-of-power between company...
Social Media Fail, Airline Style
The capacity to operate a 747 is incompatible with social media smarts. That’s the conclusion one might draw from the…
OneZero
5 essential steps to online security
Today's practice: Tighten your online security. You'd think that writing a dissertation about political computer hacking would make a girl sensitive to the challenges of online security. And it has, up to a point. But I recently decided to up my level of tech...
Make a family tech schedule
Today's practice: Make a family tech schedule. We recently took the bold, terrifying step of pulling all the gaming consoles (Xbox, Playstation and Wii) out of our home media center, and sending them on a vacation to the closet. We took this measure in response to our...
What experience do you want to have online?
Today's practice: Think about the social media experience you want to have, not the brand you want to build. About three years ago, in a conversation that ultimately led to me shifting gears and joining Emily Carr, the very wise Morgan Brayton passed along a pivotal...
From the Wall Street Journal’s Daily Wrap: Twitter for CEOs (audio)
Why and how should CEOs use Twitter? That was the focus of my conversation with Michael Castner yesterday, on the Wall Street Journal's Daily Wrap. You can listen to that interview below, or read the Wall Street Journal story we were riffing off: Better Leadership...
How to crowdsource your Facebook Timeline
If you struggle to keep your Facebook Timeline dynamic and engaging, without creating what is simply a mirror of your Facebook or LinkedIn presence, the solution may not lie with you, but with your friends. For the past few months, I've been running a private...
The future of online nostalgia
Sometimes the only thing that makes the glitchiness of the Internet tolerable is the expectation that one day we will laugh nostalgically about the old days. Remember how we used to have iPads, but they couldn't see anything in Flash? Oh yeah -- FLASH!!! LOL Remember...
Online pickup, or online stalking? (From CBC Vancouver)
Finally, an online dating site that makes Plenty of Fish and Craigslist's Missed Connections look positively classy. My comments are included in the story that ran on CBC news tonight.
Social media opportunities for film and television
How can you conceive the social media project that will enrich your production company, broadcast network, film or TV show? That was the core question I spoke to today at Women in Film & Television Toronto, as part of their International Women in Digital Media...
JSTOR DAILY
5 essential steps to online security
Today's practice: Tighten your online security. You'd think that writing a dissertation about political computer hacking would make a girl sensitive to the challenges of online security. And it has, up to a point. But I recently decided to up my level of tech...
Make a family tech schedule
Today's practice: Make a family tech schedule. We recently took the bold, terrifying step of pulling all the gaming consoles (Xbox, Playstation and Wii) out of our home media center, and sending them on a vacation to the closet. We took this measure in response to our...
What experience do you want to have online?
Today's practice: Think about the social media experience you want to have, not the brand you want to build. About three years ago, in a conversation that ultimately led to me shifting gears and joining Emily Carr, the very wise Morgan Brayton passed along a pivotal...
From the Wall Street Journal’s Daily Wrap: Twitter for CEOs (audio)
Why and how should CEOs use Twitter? That was the focus of my conversation with Michael Castner yesterday, on the Wall Street Journal's Daily Wrap. You can listen to that interview below, or read the Wall Street Journal story we were riffing off: Better Leadership...
How to crowdsource your Facebook Timeline
If you struggle to keep your Facebook Timeline dynamic and engaging, without creating what is simply a mirror of your Facebook or LinkedIn presence, the solution may not lie with you, but with your friends. For the past few months, I've been running a private...
The future of online nostalgia
Sometimes the only thing that makes the glitchiness of the Internet tolerable is the expectation that one day we will laugh nostalgically about the old days. Remember how we used to have iPads, but they couldn't see anything in Flash? Oh yeah -- FLASH!!! LOL Remember...
Online pickup, or online stalking? (From CBC Vancouver)
Finally, an online dating site that makes Plenty of Fish and Craigslist's Missed Connections look positively classy. My comments are included in the story that ran on CBC news tonight.
Social media opportunities for film and television
How can you conceive the social media project that will enrich your production company, broadcast network, film or TV show? That was the core question I spoke to today at Women in Film & Television Toronto, as part of their International Women in Digital Media...
THE VERGE
What kind of digital parent are you?
My recent piece for The Atlantic, Parents: Reject Technology Shame, tackles the question of how to raise kids in a digital world. Data from more than 10,000 North American parents shows that they are deeply divided on this question, and that there are three distinct...
Why you should hand your kid that iPhone
I see you looking at me from the other side of the coffee shop?—?yes, you: the hemp-swaddled mom with the slightly sticky child who is playing with that organic wooden toy. You probably hope that toy will teach her hand-eye coordination or bring him into harmony with...
How the Sharing Economy Can Improve Your Next Business Trip
How on-demand apps can help business travellers squeeze every last minute of value out of their time on the road.
Threat-based parenting: Dos and Don’ts
As featured on Medium, a handy guide to getting those pesky kids under control with the power of threats. Thanks to the rise of screens, there’s never been a better time for threat-based parenting.